The residence was three levels high and consisted of twelve bedrooms and various living areas that were spread out across the upper two floors. The staff’s quarters were on the ground floor along with the kitchen and other utilitarian spaces. It felt eerie being alone in the residence. We had traveled to foreign lands before but we had never been in a foreign land where we knew nothing of their customs and were unsure of the level of hostility toward us.

  It was almost nightfall. Uraia and I took a bath together and changed into our evening wear. After we had been relaxing for a few minutes Aniira’s voice came through the voice tubes informing us that dinner was ready. Uraia and I went down to the dining room. Aniira welcome us into the dining room where food was waiting for us on the table and the other three servants were standing against the wall to wait on us. Our chairs were pulled out for us and Uraia and I sat down to what looked like a lovely meal.

  “What is this?” I asked Aniira of the poultry dish that was being served.

  “It’s muscal, a game bird that’s found in the forests.”

  I took a bite of the muscal and kept the morsel in my mouth for a moment to savor the flavor of it.

  “Who prepared this?” I asked.

  “Neara did,” Aniira responded.

  “It’s delicious; in fact it may be the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Thank you madam,” Neara responded demurely.

  Uraia and I continued eating, marveling at the succulence of the meat and the skill with which it had been prepared to produce such deep flavor.

  “You don’t look like the other elves; why is that?” I asked Aniira.

  “We are dark elves, they are white elves.”

  “Why is it that this is my first time since arriving here that I am seeing you dark elves?”

  “I am not allowed to discuss that.”

  “Are you all servants?”

  “Again, I cannot discuss that.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I see; you are second class citizens here. I’d like you to know that Uraia here, who commands more of my trust and respect than anyone else, is from a race who were considered second class people until I became queen and bestowed upon them full rights as citizens of the kingdom.”

  Aniira didn’t respond to my remarks but I got the sense that I had managed to successfully convey my genuine feelings to her.

  “Do you think she got the message?” Uraia asked me later that night in bed.

  “I hope she did; if we can get these women to open up it’ll help us to learn what we need to learn about what’s going on here.”

  “Queen Alleria wouldn’t have put us in a house with dark elf servants if she was worried about us learning about what’s going on here.”

  “You’re probably right, in which case I should probably just bring up the subject with Alleria and ask her all of the questions that I’m looking for answers to.”

  “During the hunt?”

  “It’ll give us something to talk about at least.”

  After dinner a messenger of queen Alleria’s had come to the residence to deliver a note informing us that it was a tradition of the elves to welcome their guests with a feast at which was served the flesh of an animal that they hunted together. I responded that we would gladly take part in the hunt which Uraia and I were looking forward to a great deal. We went to sleep early with the intention of getting a bright start early in the morning.

  It was just before dawn when Alleria’s messenger returned and informed us that the hunt would soon be getting under way.

  “This carriage will take you to the Northern Gate that leads to the Northern Forest; queen Alleria and her party are waiting for you there.”

  The carriage was being driven by a male dark elf. Driving north in the carriage we saw more dark elves throughout the city performing tasks like sweeping the streets and brushing down horses. It was clear that the dark elves on the island existed as an indentured servant class, just like the slaves in Avondrea.

  Alleria and her party of six were waiting for us at the Northern Gate with four creatures that looked like stags but were larger than the ones that we were familiar with from our realm and had horns that were larger and more elaborate.

  “These are dahus, they’re excellent at traversing challenging terrain; we’ll be going out on the hunt on these,” Alleria said to me when we disembarked from the carriage.

  In addition to her party there were two dark elves, a man and a woman, who were holding onto the reins of the two dahus that were meant for me and Uraia.

  “Boronir here will lead the hunt, bringing back our spoils will be the job of the others,” Alleria said, referring to the four dark elves that were part of her party who would be accompanying us on foot.

  “Do you have another bow?” I asked Alleria.

  “What for?”

  “I would like for Uraia to participate in the hunt as well.”

  “Voran,” Alleria said, addressing one of the dark elves, “Get another bow and quiver.”

  Voran ran off to do so and Alleria turned her attention back to me.

  “Boronir is my most trusted warrior; she’s going to have a hard time keeping up with him.”

  “She’ll be fine,” I responded confidently.

  Voran returned with the bow and quiver for Uraia and after we were helped up onto our dahus we set off for the forest.